Lukashenko fires head of Belarusian border guard service
Alexander Lukashenko, the self-proclaimed president of the Republic of Belarus, has appointed Konstantin Molostov as the new head of the State Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus after firing Anatoly Lapo from this position.
Source: BelTA, Belarusian state-owned national news agency; Radio Liberty; State Border Guard Service of Ukraine
Details: Lukashenko’s decision was announced on 30 May. Prior to this appointment, Molostov was Head of the Hrodna (Grodno) Border Group.
Lapo has been fired as the head of the Belarusian State Border Committee and removed from active duty, and is now in the reserve forces.
Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service responded to this shake-up by jokily speculating that it was prompted by a recent video of Ukrainian border guards mocking their Belarusian counterparts; in the video, some Belarusian military personnel are trying and failing to start their vehicle near the Ukrainian border as Ukrainian border guards discuss the possibility of a Belarusian assault.
Quote from Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service: "Lukashenko must have seen our video of Belarusian border guards from yesterday. A drastic personnel reshuffle was not long in coming: the head of their border service has been dismissed… We promise to continue to document your subordinates’ [Belarusian border guards’] ‘achievements’."
Background:
- In March 2022, Serhii Deineko, Head of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, asked the Belarusian ambassador to Ukraine to pass on a bag containing "thirty pieces of silver" to Anatoly Lapo, who was the head of the State Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus at the time. [Thirty pieces of silver was the price for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus – ed.]
- In an interview with Ukrainska Pravda, Deineko said he met with Lapo on the eve of Russia’s full-scale invasion and shared recordings of intercepted conversations of Russian soldiers with him.
- Quote from Deineko: "On 19 February, on the president's command, I met with my counterpart at the border. I told him about our information and asked him to pass it on to self-proclaimed President Lukashenko, especially since he is also a border guard. Lukashenko served in the border troops of the USSR's KGB as a conscript. Therefore, he should have understood that border guards are supposed to prevent border violations, not organise and facilitate them. My counterpart assured me that this was ‘definitely not possible’. But by his reaction, I could tell that he was lying. It was our last meeting and our last conversation with him. I gave him some materials to listen to and intercepted conversations of Russian soldiers. He turned pale, then red, then green, and promised that he would report to Lukashenko that evening. And then we saw what happened."
For reference: The Belarusian leadership has supported Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and has allowed Russia to use Belarusian military infrastructure and airspace to launch the Russian army’s invasion of Ukraine and to attack peaceful Ukrainian settlements, killing thousands of Ukrainian civilians.
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